1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanism of an optical pluggable transceiver for latching with/releasing from a cage.
2. Related Prior Art
The so-called pluggable transceiver is inserted into the cage of the host system. The cage is a metal box with one end thereof opening for the outside. This cage is installed on the host system such that an electrical connector on the host system is set in the deep end of the cage, and the opened end is exposed in the face panel of the host system. Thus, the pluggable transceiver is inserted into the cage from the face panel and an electrical plug provided in the rear end of the transceiver is mated with the electrical connector in the deep end of the cage.
In particular, the transceiver capable of inserting into or extracting from the cage without shutting down the host system is called as a hot pluggable transceiver. The pluggable transceiver is necessary to provide a mechanism for latching with the cage. It is necessary for the mechanism that, when the optical connector mates with the receptacle of the transceiver, the transceiver can not be released from the cage, and can be released only when the receptacle is free from the connector. Various latching mechanisms have been proposed and disclosed in prior arts.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,186,134, has disclosed a latching mechanism, in which a combination of a bail with a shape of a wire frame and a pivot block causes a rock pin provided in the end of the block up-and-down motion to disengage the pin with the cage. The bail comprises a grip portion to be handled, a shoulder portion buried in the block, and a body portion connecting the grip portion to the shoulder portion, these portions configuring the wire frame.
A center of the shoulder portion forms a cam by bending the wire inward, and the shoulder portion including the cam is buried within the block. The block makes the seesaw motion around the pivot arm. That is, to rotate the bail causes the cam to be rotated within the groove to push the receptacle outward by the head of the cam. Thus, the block makes the seesaw motion, so the rock pin provided in the position opposite to the cam portion is pulled within the receptacle to release the engagement between the pin and the cage. This transceiver provides a fin for supporting the block from the bottom, accordingly, the block may not dismantled from the receptacle.
The United States patent application, published as US A-2003-142917, has disclosed another latching mechanism. This mechanism, although providing the bail and the actuator, the bail only functions as a grip to slide the actuator frontward and rearward. The rotation of the bail is not converted into the longitudinal motion of the actuator or the vertical motion of the latching projection. The tip end of the actuator forms a wedge that is received within the pocket formed in the transceiver body when the transceiver is inserted into and engaged with the cage. The side of the pocket is a slant surface, on which the wedge slides to lift up the latching tab of the cage when the transceiver is pulled out from the cage by handling the bail. Thus, the engagement between the latching projection of the transceiver and the latching tab of the cage may be released. The actuator provides a spring which sets the neutral position of the actuator as the wedge being received within the pocket.
Recently, a new system, often called as an optical hub-system has been proposed, where a plurality of pluggable transceivers is densely arranged in both vertically and horizontally. For instance, arranging transceivers in a configuration of 24 pieces in horizontally by 2 arrays in vertical may constitute the hub system with 48 channels. In such system, when transceivers around the target one receive the optical connector, it is often encountered that the bail of the target transceiver is hard to extract the target transceiver from the cage by picking the bail or to rotate the bail because of the existence of the optical cables and the optical connectors set in the peripheral transceivers.